About 150 tonnes of ammunition were handed over to Ukraine on Friday, September 2, mostly 5.45 caliber cartridges for various modifications of Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle which the Lithuanian army no longer uses, a spokesman for country's Joint Chiefs of Staff told Reuters.

Western governments and Ukraine say Russia has armed and supported separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine in a conflict in which more than 9,000 people have died since 2014.

Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius called on Monday for EU sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine to stay in place as long the situation on the ground does not improve, dismissing calls from the EU's rotating president Slovakia for them to be lifted. Full story